I've mentioned a couple times before how crazy my walls are, like when I opened a wall or tiled my backsplash. In summary, sometimes they're drywall, sometimes they're plaster, sometimes they're drywall on plaster- you never know. As a result, my walls look funny. They're wavy, joint compound is visible in weird spots, they change width randomly, things like that. Because of this, I was super excited about the idea of extending my cabinets to the ceiling. Less visible wall = prettier house.

I was also super nervous about this project. It seems simple: cut up MDF and attach it above the cabinets. Done. But then there was the trim, and the caulk, and the paint, and it just seemed like so much work. So I procrastinated. For over a month, if you were wondering.

But then it all worked out, because guess who appeared? My dad! I'd put a cape on him if I could, because he's kind of a hero in that I'm not sure this blog would exist without his long-distance DIY consultations. But for this project, I had him in person! The best part about this: he said if I closed up the area above the sink in this project, he could bring down electricity from the attic and add a recessed light! Win!

And so with that, we got started!

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The Cabinet Extension Project

Materials

Step 1: Add Furring Strips Above Cabinets

The MDF pieces need to be secured to something. Since that something won't be seen, I used furring strips, AKA, the cheapest wood on the market. I attached the strips to the tops of the cabinets and the ceiling using construction adhesive and brad nails. Since the pieces were so light, I didn't worry about attaching them to the ceiling joists; the construction adhesive alone was more than enough to hold them up.

I used a scrap piece of MDF to determine how far back to place the furring strips, and ensure the ceiling furring strips were aligned with the lower ones.

Step 2: (Optional) Configure Any Lighting

As mentioned above, my dad brought down electricity from the attic to power a recessed light over the sink. I'm not going to go into detail about how he did that, but if you have someone with the electrical skills to add lights for you, it's an awesome improvement!

The Romex wiring got hidden behind the MDF when I closed up the space, hence why the light had to be installed first!

Step 3: Cut and Attach MDF

I had Lowes cut my MDF pieces to be 12 1/2" x 8' long. While the distance between my cabinets and ceiling was 12 1/2" in some places, it was shorter in others, so in addition to cutting the MDF to the correct length using my miter saw, I also had to cut the pieces lengthwise so they fit between the cabinets and ceiling perfectly.

I used my circular saw to make the longer cuts. In order to make the cuts as accurate and straight as possible, I used this nifty jig developed by Kreg that helps keep my circular saw going in a perfectly straight line. I love it; if you don't have a table saw and regularly need to make long, accurate cuts with your circular saw, I highly recommend getting one.

I attached the MDF to the furring strips with brad nails and construction adhesive. The weight of the MDF pieces was mostly held by the cabinets, so I didn't feel I needed to use screws to keep the pieces in place.

For the space over the corner cabinets, I installed the MDF on either side first. I did not bevel those cuts, instead cutting them as normal.

Then I cut a piece to fit the space left. This piece had a 45 degree bevel on each end.

Step 4: Add Trim

I added trim on both the top and bottom of the MDF pieces in order to hide any gaps resulting from the fact my ceiling wasn't perfectly level. I secured the pieces with construction adhesive and brad nails.

If your corners aren't perfect, don't fret. You'll add caulk on the next step, which hides any gaps, and does a great job of making work look professional.

Step 5: Caulk All Gaps

Caulk is like my secret super power. Suddenly projects that were looking a little wonky look 100% better after caulk is added to any gaps. On this project, I went through and added caulk to all corners, the space in between the trim and MDF, and anywhere else I could see a gap. It makes everything so much better, so if you were thinking of skipping this step, don't!

I also added wood filler to any holes created by the brad nails so that they wouldn't be visible after painting.

Step 6: Prime and Paint

Something to know about MDF: it is thirsty! I think this is some snazzy slang term used by high schoolers, but what I actually mean by it is that the MDF will quickly soak up any paint you add. If you paint the MDF without priming first, you will need 4-5 coats. Because of this, I highly recommend priming before you add any paint. I did two coats of Zinsser Primer before painting.

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The entire time I've been planning my kitchen, I've had one reoccurring thought: where will I eat? The kitchen is TINY; there really isn't room for a set of table and chairs anywhere in the space. After finishing the countertop installation, I had some leftover butcherblock, and that was when I had the idea of a bar! I could use the leftover butcherblock to make a bar!

Before installing the bar, my kitchen looked like this:

Keep in mind this is mid-remodel, so don't judge just yet!

I figured I could fit a small bar against the right side of the kitchen. It would have to be small, and the barstools would have to fit entirely under the bar when not in use, but it was do-able, and would add at least a little seating to the kitchen!

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I started with the two pieces of butcherblock in the picture below. The shorter piece is 14 1/2" tall. I decided to cut a 14 1/2" piece off the bigger piece of butcherblock, and then put the two pieces next to each other to form the bar. While I could have cut one long piece from the bigger butcherblock, I was concerned it wouldn't be long enough to comfortably seat two, plus it would have required having an exposed cut end. After cutting with a circular saw, the cut ends weren't super pretty, so I wanted to avoid that.

Once I had the pieces cut to be identical, I installed them using these shelf brackets. They were heavy duty and claimed to support up to 600 lbs per pair, which I hoped would mean they'd securely support the bar and everything I put on it. While I wouldn't sit on the bar, normal weighted things seem pretty secure so far.

I have crazy plaster covered in drywall walls, so I purchased extra long 3 1/2" screws to secure my shelf brackets to the studs. Since I was putting up four brackets, I wasn't able to get every single bracket into a stud: on one bracket, the screws attach to these molly anchors instead. While I had some concerns about the mollys holding the weight of the bar, I figured that since there was another shelf bracket that was secured to a stud, things would be fine. I haven't had any issues so far!

Molly anchor in wall!

All in all, I absolutely love having a seating area in the kitchen. It's great to not have to carry my meal into the dining room every time I want to sit down. I'm enjoying it a lot. I'm also completely obsessed with the barstools and the mirror, go see how build them if you haven't already!

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After building my bar, I was left with a large space of wall above the bar that needed something. Artwork would have been ideal, but what? It's a kitchen, and I wanted to keep the colors simple; just yellow and white. I'm also apparently super picky about words on my art, and as I looked at kitchen pieces, I just didn't see anything I loved.

Eventually, I came to the idea of a mirror! It's close to the back door, so it's nice for the purpose of checking your appearance on the way out the door. Plus, it's a pretty small kitchen, so adding a DIY farmhouse mirror along the wall would help expand the appearance of the space.

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Get Started!

The Rustic DIY Farmhouse Mirror

Materials

- 1 x 3 Furring Strip (or other type of wood)- Sisal Twine- Dollar Store Sunflowers- 2' x 3' Frameless Mirror- Kreg Jig and Screws- Stain- Wood Conditioner (optional, use if using a soft wood)- Mirror Clips- Make sure you get the right size for the mirror that you purchased. My mirror was 1/4" thick, and I made sure the clips I was purchasing were intended for 1/4" mirrors.

Step 1: Make Frame

I was using some leftover furring strips from my kitchen tool organizer project, so the wood was already sanded. If you purchased a furring strip for this project, it'll involve a fair amount of sanding to make it pretty. I typically sand with 120 grit sandpaper on a belt sander, then smooth with 180 grit sandpaper on an orbital sander. Alternatively, you could pay a dollar or two more for nicer wood and skip the sanding.

I cut two pieces to be 37 7/8" long and two pieces to be 21" long, then tested the fit with the mirror I purchased to ensure the clips and mirror would fit appropriately on the frame.

On the two smaller pieces, I added two Kreg Jig holes on either end of the piece.

Then I assembled the frame using Kreg Jig screws and wood glue. Note the clamp in the picture below: it is super important to clamp your wood anytime you're assembling with pocket holes (the kreg jig holes).

Step 2: Stain Frame

Since I was using furring strips, aka, super soft wood, I coated the entire frame in wood conditioner before starting. Then I stained with Minwax's English Chestnut, which I had around the house.

Step 3: Add Twine

I secured the end of the twine to the frame using hot glue, then wrapped the twine around the frame until I had about 6 inches of twine.

I did this four separate times, two times in two opposing corners.

Step 4: Add Sunflowers

I cut four sunflowers off of a dollar store sunflower bouquet, and hot glued one onto each bunch of twine.

Step 5: Attach Mirror to Frame

I started by attaching the mirror clips to the back side of the frame. I had three clips on the bottom piece of the frame, two on the top piece, and one clip on the right side of the frame. It is really, important that one side of the frame does not have any clips!! This is so that you can slide the mirror into place.

The pack of mirror clips did not come with screws, so I attached to clips to the frames with #6 1/2" wood screws.

Then I slid the mirror into place, and hung it on the wall!

Cost Considerations

Most of the typical woodworker supplies I had around the house- the frame was built from scrap wood, the twine I had left over from my doormat project, and I typically keep things like stain, wood conditioner, wood glue, and screws around the house. As a result, I only purchased the following things; if you make replicate this project, it may cost a bit more if you need to purchase more things. That being said, you might be able to cut down on the cost of the mirror by finding one at a thrift store that you could recycle- I wasn't patient enough to try!

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In an ideal world, every single piece of furniture in my house would be something I transformed from a thrift store piece. Why? Because this is the single least expensive way to create beautiful furniture. In my head exists an "expense hierarchy." With a few low-quality exceptions, purchasing furniture new will always be the most expensive option. The cost of building furniture yourself adds up quickly, but typically still comes out cheaper than buying something new. Finally, given your initial purchasing cost is low, transforming a thrift store piece is typically the most affordable option.

My DIY barstools are a perfect example of this. I searched thrift stores for about a month looking for barstools to transform. I saw plenty of barstools. The typical price per barstool was $25; occasionally I'd see something for a little more or less. However, I was looking for something very particular: a small backless barstool that would fit completely under the 14" wide bar I was building in my kitchen.

Eventually, I ran out of time. I wanted these barstools done and over with, so when I saw spindles at my Habitat For Humanity for a dollar each, I picked up 8, deciding to build barstools myself using the spindles as legs.

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I thought I could pull off $8 barstools. I had some leftover butcherblock from my countertops at home that could be the tops. And maybe if I had stuck with that idea, they would have been $15 barstools after purchasing some furring strips for support. But halfway through the project, I decided there was already enough wood in the kitchen, and I should go with a fabric top instead. But adding cushions costs money, so the cost of my $15 barstools rapidly shot up. Here's what I ended up paying:

Saving Money Secret: do your first couple coats with a cheaper spray paint (I had some that I got for $0.99 at Menards a while back), then the final coat in the nice spray. You get the look of the nicer white without having to purchase multiple cans.

1.5 Yards FabricJackman's Fabrics

$18.00

Jackman's is a local fabric store in the St. Louis area. They have a great selection, and are worth checking out if you live in the area!

Total

$62.77

This wasn't as cheap as I wanted, but I feel a bit better when I remind myself that if I had remodeled thrift store barstools, it probably would have cost me $15 in supplies in addition to the $50 base barstool cost.

Step 1: Prep and Cut Wood

Since I used furring strips, I needed to sand them significantly to make them usable. I used 120 grit sandpaper on a belt sander to take most of the rough wood off, then smoothed it out using 180 grit sandpaper on my orbital sander.

Then I cut my wood to the proper lengths. Since I was aiming for my barstools to be 20" wide by 14" deep, and each furring strip was 1 1/4" thick, I cut my furring strips to be 17 1/2" and 11 1/2" long. See picture below.

These are the supports for ONE barstool.

Additionally, the spindles I purchased were 36" long. This would make a pretty high barstool- ideally, bar-height barstools are between 30 and 32 inches high. I therefore cut my spindles down to be 30 inches long. Since I had three and a half inches of cushion/butcherblock top, this was still a really high barstool, so if you can cut your barstool down further, or have a thinner top, it would work out better.

I was super careful to make all four spindles the exact same length. Should I be off at all, the barstool would wobble once put together.

Step 2: Add Kreg Jig Holes to Supports

On my 1 x 3 support pieces, I added two kreg jig holes on each end of the piece to attach the supports to the spindles. I also added two or three kreg jig holes (depending on length of piece) facing up that would eventually attach the butcherblock top to the supports.

On the 1 x 2 support pieces, I just added one hole on each end, which would attach the supports to the spindles.

Step 3: Assemble Barstool Base

I started by assembling one side of the base at a time, then connecting them.

There are a couple of things in the above picture that are pretty important. First of all, make sure that you clamp the pieces together before putting in the Kreg screws, else there will be a lot of movement, and you'll risk splitting your spindles. Additionally, you'll want to secure your joints with wood glue for extra support (do this before clamping!). Finally, in my picture, you can see that I've lined up all three pieces of wood against a cabinet door. This is to make sure they are all in a straight, level line with each other.

After creating the two smaller sides, I attached them using the remaining furring strips.

Step 4: Finish Base

I wood filled and sanded the pocket holes on the lower supports so they wouldn't be seen (I didn't bother with the top holes; they wouldn't be visible on the final barstool,) then spray painted the base white.

When spray painting, I started with some cheaper white spray paint that I got for $0.99, then finished with Rustoleum's 2X White Semi-Gloss paint. This was a cost saving measure- by spraying with the cheaper spray paint for the initial cover job, I didn't have to purchase more than one of the more expensive Rustoleum cans.

Step 5: Make Cushion

While waiting for the spray paint to dry, I made my cushion. I started by cutting my leftover butcherblock to be the width and depth I wanted my finished barstool to be, 20" wide x 14" deep.

I then cut my foam to be the same dimensions using a rotary cutter. This wasn't the ideal tool: an electric knife is the correct tool for cutting foam, but I didn't want to purchase one of those, so I made due with the rotary cutter I already had.

After cutting my foam, I secured it to the butcherblock using spray adhesive.

Then I wrapped it in batting (like a present!) and secured with foam adhesive. On the first cushion I made, I used two layers of batting, but that seemed like overkill, so on the second I only used one.

Finally, I wrapped the entire butcherblock/foam/batting combo with the fabric I'd picked out, and secured it with staples from my staple gun. I used 5/16" and 1/4" staples I already had around the house.

And then my cushion was ready to be attached!

Step 6: Attach Cushion to Base

I had the perfect tiny TV table that I used for this, which made clamping the base to the cushion much easier. Since the cushion compresses as you clamp, it's great to be able to secure it on all four sides.

Then I screwed in all the Kreg screws into the holes I created earlier.

To add extra support, I put one corner brace on each spindle leg. I started this while my barstool was still clamped, adding the screws that went into the butcherblock, then unclamped the barstool and placed it on the ground to add the screws going into the spindles. This allowed me to always screw down, which is significantly easier than screwing sideways or up.

Step 7: Enjoy Your Barstool

All done!!

I love my barstools! I think they add a pop of color to the kitchen, plus they're super functional and give me an eat-in kitchen!

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I'm a big believer in mudrooms. When I redid my entryway in my California condo, it completely changed how my home functioned. Things were put away as I walked in the door, instead of scattered throughout my kitchen and living area. I was an organized human. I always knew where my keys were. Things were good.

So therefore, one of my primary goals after buying a new home was making a mudroom. Since I always entered at the back door, the mudroom was really more of a small mud-area (this is a terrible name; Lets go with "drop zone,") off the kitchen. Regardless, I thought I could make it work.

There was a door to the basement across from the exterior wall. It needed space to fully open, so I only had about 10" from the exterior wall to play with. This meant no benches or "lockers" or other bulky things. Knowing this, I started my plan.

I first listed out all the things I wanted to store in the space. The list below is specifically for the exterior wall; I had another list for the tool organizer.

I then thought about how it would be best to store these things. Coupons and receipts could go in a file organizer, while gloves and scarves would be better off in a box. Jackets, keys, and my purse could all go on hooks. I also wanted a shoe area to store my most used shoes.

I then drew out a design. I tried to draw it to scale (I'm kind of obsessed with graph paper spiral notebooks!), but ended up making minor changes to the positioning as I mounted things on the wall. I also erased things lots of times (you can see it in the picture below,) clearly I'm indecisive.

Once I had a decent draft, it was time to begin!

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Small Space Drop Zone

Materials

- Beadboard, cut to size- Piece of trim, cut to size- Construction Adhesive- Piece of wood- Hooks- File Organizers- You can see the full tutorial here. On the third and fourth organizers, I used straight instead of angled sides. This resulted in the gloves/scarves box and the shoe box.- Tool Organizer- Super proud of how this turned out. You can see the full tutorial here.- Brad Nails- Welcome Home Sign

Step 1: Attach the Beadboard

I had my beadboard cut to the size I wanted (36 3/4" by 56") at Home Depot, so it was super easy to just put some construction adhesive on the back and nail it to the wall. As an exciting side note, I got this four pack of Titebond adhesive at Menards for 99 cents after rebate. I was super pumped about this, and have made a mental note that it sometimes goes on crazy sale. If you live by a Menards, take note!

I also added screws where I knew I would be putting trim, and made sure these screws hit the studs. I did this because I knew I'd be attaching things to the beadboard, and I wanted to make sure that the beadboard could bear the weight of the accessories.

Step 2: Attach the Trim

I cut my trim to the same length as the beadboard (36 3/4") and attached it to the beadboard with construction adhesive and brad nails.

Step 3: Caulk, Wood Fill, and Paint Beadboard

Caulk works miracles people. In my opinion, lack of caulk is the biggest indicator of a DIY project, so I made sure to fill in all my gaps (sides, bottom, and top) with caulk. Additionally, I wood filled all of the brad nail holes with wood filler so that they wouldn't be seen. I then painted the beadboard.

After painting!

Step 4: Add Organizers

I went into detail on different ways to attach the organizers in the file organizer post, but in this situation I attached the small organizers with brad nails and construction adhesive, and the larger organizers with screws that I later disguised with paint. I was able to get at least one screw for the shoe box and the wood hook piece into a stud, which was ideal since both of these boxes might hold heavier things at some point.

Cost Considerations

Item

Cost

Total

$72.70

Less than $100 for a fully function entryway, and more than half of that was for the tool organizer! I consider that an organizational win!

Final Thoughts

It's amazing how much more organized a functional entryway makes me feel. I keep all my project receipts in folders in one of the file organizers, so that I'm ready to take back anything I don't use. I'm so much less worried about losing them now; it's crazy.

I love my new entryway! Have you ever done a project that makes you feel 100% more organized? Let me know about it in the comments!

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I love sunflowers. I'd say they're my favorite flower, but I don't feel like I actually know enough about flowers to make that determination. In fact, sunflowers might be the only flower I can actually identify, which might be part of why I like them.

Regardless, I like sunflowers. And in case you missed the memo, summer and fall are sunflower season, at least when it comes to floral decor stores. I'm assuming they grow in summer and fall in real life too, but, as mentioned, not a flower connoisseur here.

As a result, when I stop by Joann's, I tend to walk through the decor section admiring all the pretty sunflowers. I don't buy anything, because I'm willing to settle for whatever's left at the end of the season when everything is crazy marked down, but I window shop in the meantime. And on one of my most recent trips, I saw this:

I specifically loved the sunflower sign in the middle, although the lady standing next to me liked the pumpkin welcome signs.

I really liked the middle sunflower sign, but I walked away. Why? Because that was $30 for something I could make out of scrap wood. But the idea stuck in my head, and when I needed something for the space above my mudroom, I knew this would be perfect!

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"Welcome Home" DIY Scrap Wood Sign

Materials

- Removable Sticker Paper- If you use my method, you'll need paper that can be printed on the back removable, non-sticky side. I used this paper, and was quite please with how it turned out.

- Two Sunflowers- I got a bouquet of sunflowers at the dollar store (for a dollar!) and just cut off two of them.

- Stain

- Kreg Jig/Screws or Tie Plate- I used my Kreg Jig and screws to connect my two pieces of wood together, but if you don't have a Kreg Jig, no biggie. Something similar to this tie plate can be used on the back side of the wood to hold the two pieces together. If you do this, make sure to put wood glue between the pieces of wood for extra support.

- Wood Conditioner- Only necessary if your wood is a soft wood, like pine!

- Hot Glue and Gun OR Liquid Nails- For gluing sunflowers to wood.

- Picture Hangers

Step One: Make the Base

I cut two pieces (to be 30" and 22" long) of out of an old 1"x 6" piece of pine I had around. Then I centered the smaller piece below the larger piece, and connected them using Kreg Jig screws.

Step 2: Stain

Since I was working with pine, it was super important for me to use wood conditioner on the wood first. If you're like past me, and thinking to yourself "that's not really necessary," let me show you what this wood looked like without wood conditioner:

If you're working with pine, wood conditioner is mandatory. I'm sorry.

Pine boards with wood conditioner!

Since I wasn't super picky about what my wood looked like for this project, I just wanted it to be darker, I used stains I had around the house. I worked my way from lightest to darkest until I was satisfied with the color. I started with Minwax's Early American, then tried Minwax's English Chestnut, then finished with Cece Caldwell's Hickory.

Since I used the wood conditioner, the stains didn't soak in as much as they would have normally, which is why it took me so long (and so many tries!) to get a dark color. And note that, even with wood condition, pine is still hard to stain! There are still some blotches on my wood. For whatever reason, I didn't take a picture right after staining, but you can see it in my final product.

See where the arrows point? Those are my blotches!

Step 3: Print and Cut Out Letters

You can make this in whatever font and size you want- I used Rancho size 275 . If you want the exact letters and size I used, you can download a really (not) snazzy free PDF here:

Alternatively, if you just want the font, you can download it from FontSquirrelhere. It is free!

When printing, print on the BACK of the sticker paper. This allows you to cut out the letters so that what you stick onto your wood is white. The black ink removable side will get thrown away after you peel off your letter.

Most letters are symmetric, so this technique works. For letters that aren't symmetric, I retraced the letter on a scrap part of the paper, and then cut it out.

See how I retraced the "L"? Because it wasn't symmetric, the L was backwards if I wanted to use the front side of the sticker paper. By retracing, the L will now be the correct direction when placed on my sign.

Step 4: Place Letters and Sunflowers on Sign

I laid the letters out to make sure they were properly spaced, then took the ink backs off and stuck them onto the sign.

For the sunflowers, I glued them using a hot glue gun. That being said, if I'd had any clear liquid nails around, I would have used that instead. It would have created a much stronger bond.

Step 5: Hang Sign

I put these weird little "push in" picture hangers I had around on the back of the sign. I didn't trust the "push in" mechanism, so I also added some screws to make sure the hanger wasn't going to budge.

Then I hung my sign!

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When I was planning out the entryway of my new home, it took me forever to decide what would go on the wall next to the basement door. I knew I wanted something to organize my "upstairs tools" aka, small tools I regularly use upstairs and don't want to have to go down to the basement to get every time I need. But what?? It needed to be flat, 3 inches deep or less, else risk blocking the door from opening. Pegboard seemed like the obvious choice. But pegboard seemed so utilitarian, which is good and well for the basement, garage, or craft room, but this organizer was going in my kitchen!! It needed to be attractive as well as functional.

Eventually I came across references to a "french cleat" organizational system. It's apparently a common way that woodworkers organize their workshop. It consists of strips of wood with an angled top nailed to the wall. It looks nice (although I couldn't find any pictures to show you that do it justice), but requires a table saw for the strips, and you have to build each tool holder separately. Um, no thanks.

But the idea of horizontal strips on the wall? I could use that.

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Step 1: Prep the Furring Strips

I used furring strips because I like saving money and furring strips are quite possibility the cheapest wood on the market. However, furring strips look terrible when you first take them home. So I had a lot of sanding to do. You can minimize this step by buying more expensive wood; pretty much any stainable 1 x 3 will work.

To prep the furring strips, I sanded with a belt sander using 120 grit sandpaper. This quickly smoothed the wood without creating large sanding marks like a lower grit paper would have done. Then I sanded with 150 grit with my orbital sander to smooth everything a little more. It went quickly; I maybe spent 30 minutes sanding my five furring strips.

Unsanded furring strip

The exact same spot after sanding with the belt sander. After this picture, I sanded with 150 grit sandpaper using my orbital sander.

Step 2: Cut the Furring Strips to Length

I cut my vertical furring strip (the 1 x 2s) into two 46" long pieces and my horizontal furring strips (the 1 x 3s) into twelve 30 and 1/2 inches long pieces using a miter saw. I have this miter saw, which slides and is generally awesome, allowing me to cut up to 24" wide with a little extra work. I highly recommend it if you don't have a miter saw.

Step 3: Paint/Stain and Finish the Furring Strips

Super duper important PSA: furring strips are made of soft, cheap wood. They will stain TERRIBLY unless you coat them in wood conditioner first. Trust me, I tested a scrap piece first, and it was not pretty. So before staining my actual strips, I applied a bunch of wood conditioner.

I painted the two 46" long 1"x 2" pieces white, and stained the twelve 1"x3" pieces with Minwax's English Chestnut stain. I'm apparently super into this stain recently; I've used it on this table, and this organizer, and think both turned out gorgeous, despite taking the stain very differently.

Step 4: Assemble the Organizer

I started by securing the horizontal strips to the white vertical pieces with wood glue and nails. This was not the final way I secured the pieces, just how I started.

You'll note in the above picture that I had pieces of scrap wood between the white pieces at both the top and bottom of the organizer. This was to hold them the same distance apart as I added boards. This way, the strips stayed parallel to each other.

I also had 1.5" spacers between each board to make sure that the spaces were even. See picture below.

All the spacers meant that as I laid and secured boards I only needed to think about how much distance was between the end of the board and the white piece, which in my case was 3" on either side.

I didn't feel the wood glue/brad nail combo would be enough to hold the boards in place should I actually put anything heavy on the organizer, so I flipped it over and added 1" screws to each "joint" of the organizer. I countersunk these screws using this countersink bit to ensure they didn't stick out and push my organizer further away from the wall. Sidenote: I just got the bit the other day and I love it!! I've used it so many times, and it's made a bunch of projects easier (including this one!) that I'm not sure how I lived without it for so long. It came with four different sizes, and while I haven't used anything other than the #6 bit, I still find it amazing.

These are the holes created by the countersink bit. I was going to take a picture of them with screws in them too, but apparently I was so excited about the countersink bit that I forgot...

Step 5: Mount Organizer to Wall

You'll mount the organizer with screws that go through the white furring strips into the wall. In an idea world, both furring strips would align with studs. I wasn't able to make this happen; only one of my furring strips aligns with a stud. Since I have plaster walls, on my other furring strip, I made sure at least two of screws hit the wood lath behind the plaster. If you have drywall molly or toggle bolts are an option for mounting that second furring strip.

I put three screws through each white furring strip; one on the very top, one in the middle, and one on the bottom. I then painted the screw heads white to disguise them a bit, as shown in the picture above. Note that in the picture above, you can see the screw pretty clearly, but it is a super close up photograph. I promise that once you're 2-3 feet away, the screw is almost invisible unless you know to look for it.

I purchased these bin organizers from Home Depot. I thought this was a great price for three; they're meant for pegboards, but certainly work in this capacity as well.

Cost Considerations

The following chart details what I purchased and paid to make this organizer. Note that many of the items I already had around the house, so if you need to purchase items I had, your cost may be more.

$39.22

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Lets talk about pine. The wood, not the needles. It's a soft wood, light colored, and almost always the cheapest thing available at the hardware store. I really, really want to love it, as evidenced by the fact it's always the first thing I reach for when I need wood for a project. But this is a mistake. Why? Because pine stains terribly.

This piece of pine used to be pretty...

I know this. I've learned this lesson already. But despite that, I always buy pine. "It'll be better this time" I tell myself. No. No it wont be. Stop lying to yourself, Lindsay.

For this project, as per usual, I went to the hardware store and purchased a bunch of pine. I went home and made all my cuts. Then I tested the stain. And, as I should have known, it looked terrible (see above.)

So then I stood in my basement brainstorming all the ways I could make this project work without going back to the hardware store. I looked at the birch plywood left over from the kitchen floor. I looked at all the 100 year old trim I pulled down when putting up cabinets. And I decided I could do this.

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Get Started!

DIY Wood Wall Organizer

Materials

The following details the materials and cuts I made to complete my organizer. This can totally be adapted to use different materials or to make a different sized organizer. If you're adapting the plan, there are two key aspects: 1) the lengths of the front, back, and bottom are all the length you want your finished organizer to be and 2) the total height of the front needs to be at least an inch less that the full height of the organizer for mounting purposes.

Front: All of my plywood was leftover from my plank plywood floor project, and therefore already cut into 4" strips. As a result, the front and back of my organizer would need to be multiple pieces. For my front, I used 3 pieces of 1/4" birch plywood cut to be 10"x 2". Alternatively, you could use a single piece of something (not pine!!!) that is 10"x 6".

Back: I used 2 pieces of 1/4" birch plywood cut to be 10"x 4". Once again, you could use a single piece of something that was 10"x 8"

Bottom: This was a single piece of birch plywood 10" long. I cut the height to size after assembling the front and sides.

Sides: I sanded all of the paint off some super old trim that was once on my walls, then cut off an 8" piece (the finished height I want my organizer to be). I set my miter saw to be 10" and then cut a piece that looked the right size. Real official, I know.

Wood Glue: I am not a brand snob for this, and typically purchase the cheapest stuff I can find on Amazon whenever I'm running low. Currently, that's this.

Stain: I used Minwax's English Chestnut. Which, in case you were wondering, looks much darker on this table than it does on this project. Different woods take stain differently, so test your stain first!

Nails and Screws: I used my nail gun (see below) to put brad nails in, but you can use an old fashioned hammer and nails as well. Just make sure the nails are small!

Tools Used

Miter Saw- Absolutely essential for this project. While I suppose you could make all your cuts with a circular/jigsaw and a protractor, you will be miserable. I have this miter saw, and it makes me happy every single day.

Brad Nailer- Not essential for this project. You could definitely get away with a hammer and some finish nails. It'd just take a little while. That being said, I love my little electric nail gun, and don't think I could DIY without it.

Random Orbital Sander: I used to have a terrible Harbor Freight sander that my dad got me when I first started DIY-ing. It was awful, and the paper constantly ripped and ​it never seemed to actually sand anything. I now have this one, and it is so much better.

Drill/Driver- For driving screws and drilling pilot holes.

Step 1: Make Cuts

See the materials section for what cuts to make!

Step 2: Sand, Stain and Finish

I sanded the sides (aka, the former trim) with 80, 150, and 220 grit sandpaper. The plywood I just gave a quick sand with 220 grit sandpaper, because I was nervous about sanding through the veneer.

I then stained with Minwax's English Chestnut. I choose to stain and finish before I put everything together to ensure I stained everything, plus it was a little neater this way. While you could stain after assembly, I think it would be difficult to reach some of the places inside the organizer, hence my decision to stain before.

I used Minwax Tung Oil Finish to finish my boards, primarily because I already had some in the house, but also because I just really like it. It's not pure tung oil (which is expensive), but is tung oil based and creates a nice solid, non-sticky finish on my wood projects. You do have to wait 24 hours in between coats, but if you're not in a hurry, it's a great finish.

Step 3: Assemble

I started by attaching the front pieces to the sides of the organizer with wood glue and brad nails. No screws here: this isn't going to be bearing any weight, so the nails and glue should be enough.

Then I attached the bottom. Same deal: wood glue and brad nails.

Finally, the backs. These I attached a little differently. Instead of just using wood glue and brad nails, I also used a couple of 1" screws on the top board. This was because the top of the back is what will be mounted on the wall, so I wanted to ensure it was securely attached to the rest of the organizer.

If you have a countersink bit (I didn't at the time, but got this one from Lowes a few days later) now is the time to use it. If the screw sticks out a bit it will push the organizer away from the wall, which is fine, but not ideal. Since I didn't have a countersink bit, I just pushed really hard with my drill when I was screwing in the screw, and achieved a similar (if not as pretty) effect.

Step 4: Mount

There are two different ways I considered mounting this: 1) with screws or 2) with construction adhesive and brad nails. The first method is sturdier, given that you can get your screw into a stud or are using some sort of molly or toggle bolt. However, you end up having a visible screw that must be disguised in some way. Options include painting the screw a wood-ish color, or countersinking it and wood-filling and staining over it. The wood fill/stain option looks nice, but makes it near-impossible to remove the organizer from the wall, so you better be sure you never, ever need to take it down.

Given that future me might want to someday remove the organizer, I was mounting on a bead board panel, and that I don't plan to put anything heavy into it, I chose to mount using option 2, construction adhesive and brad nails. It was relatively straightforward: put adhesive on back, then attach to wall with brad nails. See picture the picture below for exactly where I placed my nails.

And that's it! Organizer done! I made two and used one to file receipts as I came in the door, and the other to store coupons from mailers that I might actually use. What would you use an organizer like this for? Tell me in the comments below!

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Lets talk about my new house for a moment. It's one of those houses that people look at and say "oh! It has... character." And it does. At 108 years old, it has some really interesting features, and a number of things that I wish were different.

The number one thing I would change? The walls. Theoretically, they're plaster. However, at some point in the last 108 years, that plaster cracked. Various owners dealt with this in different ways. Some wallpapered. Others slapped joint compound over the crack and repainted, hoping nobody would notice. A couple walls are entirely covered with drywall. One room is coated in wall texture spray stuff to disguise abnormalities.

Adhering a subway tile backsplash to these walls was asking for trouble. I went for it anyway. Due to the fact I had already torn apart half the kitchen, I knew this was a plaster and drywall situation, with wallpaper in some spots but not all.

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Here's how I dealt with the fact my wall isn't at all level.

1) Smooth as much of the wall as you can first.

I don't mean call a contractor and have them come in and totally rework your walls. But I did try and get as much of the wallpaper and caulk off the wall before I started tiling. Additionally, I sanded the wall with a course sanding block to try and reduce any sudden bumps.

2) Choose a smaller tile.

Any curves to your wall will be harder to disguise with a larger tile than a smaller tile. I choose to use this 3"x6" subway tile because it was cheaper, but a 2"x4" tile probably would have been better given my situation. That being said, I'm happy with the way my backsplash turned out, even with the larger tile.

3) Choose a thicker grout line.

The tiles I purchased had built in 1/16" spacers. However, I didn't use them. Instead, I got 1/8" tile spacers and used those to space my tile instead. A larger distance between the tiles is more forgiving to waves in the wall, because it offers more flexibility for bumps and such. Therefore, I avoided the small grout line and used tile spacers to make my grout line larger.

See the tile spacers between my tiles?!

4) Use tile adhesive to your advantage

Many of the bumps in my wall were smoothed out by the tile adhesive. This means that in some spots the tile adhesive was thicker than in others. This resulted in an ultimately smooth tile finish.

All in all, my backsplash is finished, and you cannot tell that my wall is actually a wavy mess. Success!

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Good news: my kitchen is almost functional! The cabinets are in, the countertops are finished and installed, and the sink/faucet works and is leak free! However, yesterday I got this depressing phone call from Lowes to inform me that my appliances had been delayed. Boo. So at the moment, my kitchen looks like this:

And this:

See that nice cabinet where I'm corralling all of the tools? Organized, right?

More important to this post, is this nice gap here:

This gap is 28" wide, and will ultimately house the dishwasher. However, my dishwasher (like most) is only 24" wide. That means I have four extra inches. Now, I could just stick a cover panel over the space, and call it a day, but since my appliances were delayed, and I have the time to build something, I figured I should probably make this space functional.

One of the many times I was procrastinating my life and browsing Houzz.com, I saw this awesome pull-out towel rack. I knew something similar would be perfect for this space, being next to the sink and all.

The pull-out towel rack in the picture above sits in an open alcove. Looking at the other pictures of this kitchen, there appears to be a similar symmetric gap (and possibly another towel rack) on each side of the sink, making the gap look intentional. Given that I only had one gap, I thought it would look strange if I left it open, so I designed my towel rack to have a front to it. This means that I can't put anything too wet on my towel rack, since there's not a lot of air to dry the towels back there, but that's a trade-off I'm willing to make.

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*A bunch of the things I chose to use because I had them around the house, similarly sturdy fasteners or wood could be used.

Step 1: Prepare the Front

I have Ikea Grimslov (off white) cabinets, so I chose MDF to make up the front of the pullout because I thought it was the best match for my cabinets texture-wise. However, I was a little concerned about the sturdiness of MDF; I was worried the towel rack would eventually fall off, or the connections between the drawer slide pieces and the front might come loose. So I wood-glued and screwed a piece of 1/4" plywood to the back to add support.

I clamped the two pieces together while the glue was drying. Yes, the plywood piece is not as wide as the MDF. I got lazy, and didn't want to cut a new piece...

I added six screws total, two on the bottom, two on the top, and two in the middle. Be careful that the screws aren't where you intend to put your towel rack!

In order to get paint that matched the rest of the cabinets, I took an uninstalled drawer front to Lowes and had them make a sample-sized paint match. I then painted the piece. I really only needed to paint the front, but I decided to paint the back (and the pieces of plywood in step 2) as well to give the wood some protection from damp towels. I also added the knob at this point so that later I didn't accidentally attach something else (the towel rack, the drawer slides, etc) where the knob needed to go.

The front piece painted and ready to be installed!

Step 2: Prepare the Sides

The ancient kitchen that I ripped apart a month or so ago had pretty grimy 1/2" plywood shelves in all of the cabinets. Thus, I had a nice stack of used-to-be-shelves sitting in the basement.

I cut two 3 1/2" pieces off (no particular reason for 3 1/2", they could have been 4" or 3" or something else, I suppose,) giving me two pieces 3 1/2" wide by 17" long. My drawer slides were 14", and the pieces really didn't need to be longer than that, but why make extra cuts when I didn't have to? My pieces therefore remained 3 1/2" by 17".

I sanded off the grime and then painted the pieces white, once again to add protection from any damp towels. Finally, on one end of each piece, I drilled Kreg jig pocket holes so I could later attach the pieces to the front piece.

Note: If you don't have a Kreg jig, because things are expensive, you might be able to still do this with only corner braces. Get super sturdy ones, and give it a shot. That being said, I've found my Kreg Jig super useful for all sorts of things that I didn't initially purchase it for (like installing the butcherblock countertops). And you don't need a fancy one; this one is only $20, and will get the job done.

The Amazon Basics Drawer Slides (and probably most drawer slides) separate into two main pieces, one which attaches to the side of the cabinet, the other which attaches to the drawer side.

I attached the "Drawer" piece of the slide to each of the plywood pieces on the opposite side from the Kreg jig holes, as shown below. I also checked that the drawer slide piece was level (with a level..)

Step 3: Assemble the Frame

I wanted the front piece to be flush with door of the sink cabinet next to it. In order to make sure that happened, I reattached the two drawer slide pieces together so that the entire piece of plywood was attached to the drawer slide. Then I held the front piece where I wanted it to go, and placed the plywood piece accordingly. I took down the front piece and marked with a pencil where the front of the drawer slide was.

I then separated the two drawer slide pieces, and attached the cabinet piece so that the front just came up to the line I had drawn. Before putting in the 2nd and 3rd screws, I checked that the slide was level.

I reattached the two drawer pieces to each other, which attached one of my plywood pieces to the cabinet side.

Then I held my front piece in place, and screwed my Kreg Jig screws into place. These were strong enough to temporarily hold the front in place while I repeated these steps for the bottom piece of plywood.

Step 4: Reinforce the Frame

As built so far, the towel rack frame operates properly. However, I (aka, my dad) had some concerns about long-term operability in two different places. 1) The Kreg Jig screws went through the edge of the plywood, which is the weakest part of the plywood. Therefore, it would improve stability if the joints were reinforced.2) The two pieces of plywood were only connected by the front piece. They would operate better and be less strained if they were connected at the back end of the pieces as well.

I therefore reinforced the plywood to front piece joint using a single 1 1/2" corner brace on each piece.

I also added a 1/4" piece of plywood that spanned the length between the two plywood sides to help add stability. I attached it with wood glue and 1/2" wood screws.

Step 5: Add the Towel Rack

The towel rack I ordered came with absolutely no instructions, which was honestly fine since I wasn't installing it in a traditional manner anyway. Basically, there were two holes in the towel rack intended for screws, so I just screwed the rack into my front piece with some 3/4" screws and called it a day.

I was a little disappointed that the towel bars can't swing toward the sink because of the reinforcement piece in the back. I could've redone it so that they could swing either way (and I guess I still could), but it didn't seem worth the effort. Moral of the story: Measure!

Cost Considerations

Definitely more expensive than a traditional towel rack, but certainly cheaper than hiring a pro to come and install a built-in pull-out towel rack! And I used my little 4 inches effectively! I'll take it!

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Hi there, I'm Lindsay Fay - Math teacher on temporary hiatus to transform my 100 year old house into the perfect home. Click around to join me in learning how to build, decorate and (sometimes!) destroy your way to a beautiful house.